A Lost Friend | Teen Ink

A Lost Friend

May 10, 2018
By bujardn BRONZE, Kenner, Louisiana
bujardn BRONZE, Kenner, Louisiana
3 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Junior year retreat is supposed to be a time for students to experience a special bond between her classmates and create new friendships that last forever. This was not the case for me. On my junior retreat, I experienced a pain so intense I thought my heart would burst. However, the pain itself was not the worst part. The worst part was the fact that it was inflicted upon me by a close friend whom I never expected to hurt me in the way she did. Her betrayal permanently injured our friendship along with my trust for her. Gabby Moore is her name, and this narrative is her story.

The enduring bus ride to the Solomon Retreat Center was cramped with pillows and overnight bags. My best friend Gabby, however, helped make the ride more enjoyable by cracking hilarious jokes and keeping up the conversation. Once we arrived at the secluded camp surrounded by the woods, we found our way to our small dorm room in which we shared with another close friend. Gabby and I immediately claimed the two twin sized beds, high fiving in the process, and then proceeded to make our way to the main lounge where the planned out activities would take place for the rest of the day. Then we joined the rest of the grade and listened to the extended list of rules spoken by our strict class moderator, Mrs. Gerrets. One of these rules involved no eating the dorms. Following this talk, we participated in the activites and ate lunch. However, the only food option available to us was a gigantic baked potato, which I am not the biggest fan of. I only ate a little of the potato before I felt my stomach growl, signaling to me that I had not eaten enough food. Instead of obeying the rule about no eating in the dorms, I seized an opportunity when no one was watching and stuffed two packets of fruit snacks into my jacket pocket. I planned on keeping the gummies with me until after dinner in case I did not like the food offered to us again. A few hours later, I asked Gabby to hold my jacket while I took a picture in the woods because I expected it to be colder outside than it actually was. This was when the betrayal started, though I was not aware of it yet. As I predicted, the choices for dinner were lukewarm pasta and the bleak salad bar that had little to no lettuce left because everyone thought it was the better choice over the pasta. After a long day of prayer and games, Gabby and I were tired and ready for bed, so we languidly strolled through the camp and went back to our dorm. I had forgotten about the fruit snacks in my jacket pocket until after I took a brisk, cold shower to save hot water for my two friends and was excited to eat the them after a long day with hardly any food. However, when I reached into the pocket of my Northface, I furiously discovered that someone had secretly eaten one of the miniscule packs of gummies and left the wrapper in my jacket. Mere words could not describe by displeasure! I looked up from my jacket and saw the look of guilt on Gabby’s face, confirming my suspicions that she was the culprit of this crime against our friendship. She then said nothing, waiting for me to break the icy silence that quickly filled the tiny gap between our two beds. I was not only angry that I now only had 6 gummies to last me until the morning, but I felt betrayed that Gabby would take something that she knew I was looking forward to eating. Then words tumbled out of my mouth so fast that I could not control them. I mainly yelled, and Gabby’s stubborn laughter only fueled my rage because she did not understand how important those fruit snacks were to me. This incident wistfully made me realize that Gabby was someone who I could not trust. I resolved to end my rant because I could see I was not getting through to her and grudgingly went to sleep, trying to ignore the howling noises coming from my stomach. The awkward bus ride back to MCA was filled with uncomfortable silence caused by unresolved issues between Gabby and me. We have never brought the issue up since retreat, but the lasting strain brought upon our friendship still remains.



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